WASHINGTON: The Pentagon has urged the Afghan government to sign the bilateral security agreement which will allow US troops to remain in the war-torn country after the final withdrawal of the international force at the end of 2014.
In a statement, the acting Pentagon spokesman Steve Warren said that we urge the government of Afghanistan to sign the security deal promptly.
The spokesman further said that if we cannot conclude an agreement promptly, we will be forced to initiate planning for a post-2014 future that does not have a US troop presence there.
The United States has repeatedly said if the security deal with Afghan government is not signed, it will have to pull its entire force of some 44,500 troops out of the Asian country by the end 2014, warning that the pullout could destabilize the war-stricken country.
On the other hand, a fresh survey reveals that majority of the US citizens want President Barack Obama to pull out their troops from Afghanistan even before the December 2014 deadline.
According to the survey, support for the US-led war in Afghanistan has dipped to below 20 percent for the first time in 12 years.
The survey reveals that 82 percent people opposed the war in Afghanistan, 17 percent supported it while one percent gave no opinion.
It concludes that the war in Afghanistan has now become the most unpopular and the longest US military conflict which entered its 13 years in October.
